# Why is everyone playing with distorted screen?

**URL:** <https://discourse.cataclysmdda.org/t/why-is-everyone-playing-with-distorted-screen/675>\
**Category:** The Bunker\
**Created:** [April 3, 2013, 1:50am UTC](https://discourse.cataclysmdda.org/t/why-is-everyone-playing-with-distorted-screen/675 "2013-04-03T01:50:00Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 20\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![LazyCat](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/ecc23a/32.png) [@LazyCat](https://discourse.cataclysmdda.org/u/LazyCat)\
**Post date:** [April 3, 2013, 1:50am UTC](https://discourse.cataclysmdda.org/t/why-is-everyone-playing-with-distorted-screen/675/1 "2013-04-03T01:50:00Z")

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![](http://img11.imageshack.us/img11/1803/squarescreenvs.jpg)

Why is everyone playing with distorted screen? Why B.), isn’t it A.) much better and how it should actually be? Vehicles look particularly terrible with distorted screen, they seem to move faster and look longer when moving vertically. So why, oh why? Or better to ask why would that be default settings? That and capital Y/N. It’s wrong.

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**Author:** ![Sirquote](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/flex016/user_avatar/discourse.cataclysmdda.org/sirquote/32/887_2.png) [@Sirquote](https://discourse.cataclysmdda.org/u/Sirquote)\
**Post date:** [April 3, 2013, 4:00am UTC](https://discourse.cataclysmdda.org/t/why-is-everyone-playing-with-distorted-screen/675/2 "2013-04-03T04:00:48Z")

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Perhaps because excluding the people that don’t mind it distorted you have people that don’t know how to change it?

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**Author:** ![Vucar\_Fikodastesh](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/f05b48/32.png) [@Vucar\_Fikodastesh](https://discourse.cataclysmdda.org/u/Vucar_Fikodastesh)\
**Post date:** [April 3, 2013, 4:31am UTC](https://discourse.cataclysmdda.org/t/why-is-everyone-playing-with-distorted-screen/675/3 "2013-04-03T04:31:16Z")

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I find the distorted characters and abundant black space aesthetically displeasing, and both factors combine to make it irritating to read any amount of text.

To me ‘B’ is much easier on the eyes, and simply looks more “natural”.

Seriously, my eyes just keep pulled toward that freakish “f” in the first example. It’s hard to ignore.

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**Author:** ![Sprax](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/flex016/user_avatar/discourse.cataclysmdda.org/sprax/32/52_2.png) [@Sprax](https://discourse.cataclysmdda.org/u/Sprax)\
**Post date:** [April 3, 2013, 4:37am UTC](https://discourse.cataclysmdda.org/t/why-is-everyone-playing-with-distorted-screen/675/4 "2013-04-03T04:37:21Z")

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Only because I don’t know how to change it.

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**Author:** ![LazyCat](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/ecc23a/32.png) [@LazyCat](https://discourse.cataclysmdda.org/u/LazyCat)\
**Post date:** [April 3, 2013, 5:05am UTC](https://discourse.cataclysmdda.org/t/why-is-everyone-playing-with-distorted-screen/675/5 "2013-04-03T05:05:09Z")

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> [@Sprax](#):
>
> Only because I don’t know how to change it.

In ./data folder there is FONTDATA file, by default it looks like this:

```auto
Terminus
8
16
```

You need to comment out “Terminus” font name, or use some other font, and make both numbers the same, that is width and height of the font. Like this for example:

```auto
#Terminus
15
15
```

…or say:

```auto
Arial
20
20
```

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**Author:** ![Soron](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/flex016/user_avatar/discourse.cataclysmdda.org/soron/32/885_2.png) [@Soron](https://discourse.cataclysmdda.org/u/Soron)\
**Post date:** [April 3, 2013, 5:22am UTC](https://discourse.cataclysmdda.org/t/why-is-everyone-playing-with-distorted-screen/675/6 "2013-04-03T05:22:55Z")

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Because I play in a terminal window, mainly.

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**Author:** ![LazyCat](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/ecc23a/32.png) [@LazyCat](https://discourse.cataclysmdda.org/u/LazyCat)\
**Post date:** [April 3, 2013, 5:29am UTC](https://discourse.cataclysmdda.org/t/why-is-everyone-playing-with-distorted-screen/675/7 "2013-04-03T05:29:56Z")

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> [@Soron](#):
>
> Because I play in a terminal window, mainly.

What do you mean, you play on Linux? Fonts can be made square for Linux terminals as well.

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**Author:** ![Soron](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/flex016/user_avatar/discourse.cataclysmdda.org/soron/32/885_2.png) [@Soron](https://discourse.cataclysmdda.org/u/Soron)\
**Post date:** [April 3, 2013, 7:05am UTC](https://discourse.cataclysmdda.org/t/why-is-everyone-playing-with-distorted-screen/675/8 "2013-04-03T07:05:01Z")

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> [@LazyCat](#):
>
> [quote=“Soron, post:6, topic:675”]Because I play in a terminal window, mainly.

What do you mean, you play on Linux? Fonts can be made square for Linux terminals as well.[/quote]

Probably can, yeah, but that’s effort that I could spend on other things, and the 2:1 x:y ratio doesn’t bug me.

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**Author:** ![xara](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/x/58956e/32.png) [@xara](https://discourse.cataclysmdda.org/u/xara)\
**Post date:** [April 3, 2013, 2:28pm UTC](https://discourse.cataclysmdda.org/t/why-is-everyone-playing-with-distorted-screen/675/9 "2013-04-03T14:28:13Z")

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Am I in Bizarro world? How is _B_ the one that is “distorted”?

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**Author:** ![Soyweiser](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/flex016/user_avatar/discourse.cataclysmdda.org/soyweiser/32/37_2.png) [@Soyweiser](https://discourse.cataclysmdda.org/u/Soyweiser)\
**Post date:** [April 3, 2013, 2:49pm UTC](https://discourse.cataclysmdda.org/t/why-is-everyone-playing-with-distorted-screen/675/10 "2013-04-03T14:49:34Z")

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Check your square world privilege sister!

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**Author:** ![kilozombie](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/e274bd/32.png) [@kilozombie](https://discourse.cataclysmdda.org/u/kilozombie)\
**Post date:** [April 3, 2013, 3:08pm UTC](https://discourse.cataclysmdda.org/t/why-is-everyone-playing-with-distorted-screen/675/11 "2013-04-03T15:08:59Z")

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What the… shit?

B) has been my normal layout for the entire time I’ve ever played DDA and Roguelike, it looks normal to me.

People have personal preferences, it’s not just right or wrong.

It was the default and I don’t want to change it, I like the look of it much more.

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**Author:** ![kenoxite](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/flex016/user_avatar/discourse.cataclysmdda.org/kenoxite/32/858_2.png) [@kenoxite](https://discourse.cataclysmdda.org/u/kenoxite)\
**Post date:** [April 3, 2013, 3:59pm UTC](https://discourse.cataclysmdda.org/t/why-is-everyone-playing-with-distorted-screen/675/12 "2013-04-03T15:59:18Z")

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> [@kilozombie](#):
>
> B) has been my normal layout for the entire time I’ve ever played DDA and Roguelike, it looks normal to me.

That’s because you guys have… ![](http://img11.imageshack.us/img11/7649/beyest.jpg)

For those interested, there [was a thread](http://www.cataclysmdda.com/smf/index.php?topic=269.0) with links to square fonts (fonts specially designed for this kind of purpose). That info is also available [in the wiki](http://www.wiki.cataclysmdda.com/index.php?title=How_to_compile#Square_fonts).

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**Author:** ![Mr\_Lolz](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/e480ec/32.png) [@Mr\_Lolz](https://discourse.cataclysmdda.org/u/Mr_Lolz)\
**Post date:** [April 3, 2013, 4:55pm UTC](https://discourse.cataclysmdda.org/t/why-is-everyone-playing-with-distorted-screen/675/13 "2013-04-03T16:55:41Z")

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A looks awful, thats why 🙂

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**Author:** ![Vollinger](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/c57346/32.png) [@Vollinger](https://discourse.cataclysmdda.org/u/Vollinger)\
**Post date:** [April 3, 2013, 8:47pm UTC](https://discourse.cataclysmdda.org/t/why-is-everyone-playing-with-distorted-screen/675/14 "2013-04-03T20:47:48Z")

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![](http://i.imgur.com/yq3Hb3H.png)  
pixel-font 7: [http://www.mediafire.com/?7aym1xae50wb9f0](http://www.mediafire.com/?7aym1xae50wb9f0)

the buff as hell fonts seem a lil nicer  
but making it actually square pushes everything off center and the text is just awful

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**Author:** ![Goober](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/flex016/user_avatar/discourse.cataclysmdda.org/goober/32/875_2.png) [@Goober](https://discourse.cataclysmdda.org/u/Goober)\
**Post date:** [April 3, 2013, 10:08pm UTC](https://discourse.cataclysmdda.org/t/why-is-everyone-playing-with-distorted-screen/675/15 "2013-04-03T22:08:06Z")

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[quote=“Vollinger, post:14, topic:675”]the buff as hell fonts seem a lil nicer  
but making it actually square pushes everything off center and the text is just awful[/quote]

What font and spacing (X by Y) are in your post, Vollinger?

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**Author:** ![Iosyn](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/flex016/user_avatar/discourse.cataclysmdda.org/iosyn/32/35_2.png) [@Iosyn](https://discourse.cataclysmdda.org/u/Iosyn)\
**Post date:** [April 3, 2013, 10:20pm UTC](https://discourse.cataclysmdda.org/t/why-is-everyone-playing-with-distorted-screen/675/16 "2013-04-03T22:20:28Z")

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1366x768 Landscape Notepad.

Why 1366x768? seriously? what kind of Effing resolution is that for a screen.  
Yeah, alright it looks okay I guess but I still remember the good old days of low resolution 800x600 crts. 1024x768 was like a dream to me back then. Now I run hacked programs and Ye oldie emulated games in 1024x768 and it looks GODDAMN TINY. How the hell people ever worked with 640x480 without needing glasses and/or going blind faster than a 40yr old virgin on year-long wank-a-thon I’ll never  
know.

As for the distortion, it really isn’t that noticable to me with my default notepad resolution, but I’ll try editing terminal out and see how it looks. Generally run with stock height and 28 width, because it reminds me of LNP dwarf fort and it’s easier for me to multitask with other programs.

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**Author:** ![kenoxite](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/flex016/user_avatar/discourse.cataclysmdda.org/kenoxite/32/858_2.png) [@kenoxite](https://discourse.cataclysmdda.org/u/kenoxite)\
**Post date:** [April 3, 2013, 10:56pm UTC](https://discourse.cataclysmdda.org/t/why-is-everyone-playing-with-distorted-screen/675/17 "2013-04-03T22:56:29Z")

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Try the [Topaz-8](http://www.fonts2u.com/topaz-8.font) font. It gives the game a nice retro look, more “gamey” than “fontey” (if you catch my drift) and everything looks proportionally impeccable.

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**Author:** ![KA101](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/278dde/32.png) [@KA101](https://discourse.cataclysmdda.org/u/KA101)\
**Post date:** [April 4, 2013, 12:53am UTC](https://discourse.cataclysmdda.org/t/why-is-everyone-playing-with-distorted-screen/675/18 "2013-04-04T00:53:44Z")

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FWIW I’ve seen the square font in LCS and wasn’t fond of it there. I can understand how square fonts could be easier to parse, though.

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**Author:** ![LazyCat](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/ecc23a/32.png) [@LazyCat](https://discourse.cataclysmdda.org/u/LazyCat)\
**Post date:** [April 4, 2013, 12:55am UTC](https://discourse.cataclysmdda.org/t/why-is-everyone-playing-with-distorted-screen/675/19 "2013-04-04T00:55:59Z")

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> [@xara](#):
>
> Am I in Bizarro world? How is _B_ the one that is “distorted”?

It’s 25x25 grid and yet one side is longer than the other, that’s distorted. And when your motorbike facing north is 64 pixels long but when facing east is 32 pixels long, that’s distorted. Isn’t it obvious?

Let me ask you something else now. You play on Windows, right? Have you noticed something is strange about driving a vehicle, how it’s glittching, skipping and jumping from point to point? Have you noticed driving takes more real time to move from point A to point B than if you go on foot? Have you ever seen bullets, explosions and shrapnel fly around?

If you have never seen Linux version, or tried my mod on Windows, then you are most likely not aware you are completely missing animations from the game too. You know? It’s just mind-boggling to me how those kind of things could be ignored, not noticed, or even embraced and perceived as “normal” or “natural”. That is bizarre.

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**Author:** ![LazyCat](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/ecc23a/32.png) [@LazyCat](https://discourse.cataclysmdda.org/u/LazyCat)\
**Post date:** [April 4, 2013, 1:20am UTC](https://discourse.cataclysmdda.org/t/why-is-everyone-playing-with-distorted-screen/675/20 "2013-04-04T01:20:10Z")

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[quote=“kilozombie, post:11, topic:675”]What the… shit?

B) has been my normal layout for the entire time I’ve ever played DDA and Roguelike, it looks normal to me.[/quote]

It’s not that much apparent in other roguelikes where the world is represented far more abstractly. But in Cataclysm you have stuff that fits over more than one tile, with shape and actual supposed size. So you get yellow road lines with twice the size when the road is vertical, and all the vehicle shrink and expand in size depending on their orientation too, plus the character seems to move faster vertically and slower when moving horizontally. That’s not “normal”, you just got used to it.

> People have personal preferences, it's not just right or wrong.
> 
> It was the default and I don’t want to change it, I like the look of it much more.

It’s mathematically, geometrically and logically wrong. People can still have different preferences, regardless. The real question is what should be default preference, what is it majority think. Try to play 10 minutes with equally proportional x/y size and perhaps after that you will not going to believe how could you ever play it any other way.

[Next page](https://discourse.cataclysmdda.org/t/why-is-everyone-playing-with-distorted-screen/675.md?page=2)